We all come at these things with a set of preconceptions. If you’re already looking for something that fits you preconceptions of the Bible (e.g. a so-called “plain reading of the text”) you may not find what you are looking for. But then most folk’s view of “literal” is something that is not taught in the Bible itself. It’s a technique they impose on the text. You can always find what you are looking for if you’ve made up your mind ahead of time.
> You can always find what you are looking for if you’ve
> made up your mind ahead of time.
Exactly.
Which is where most of the guys that come up with this stuff are coming from.
Fact is, nobody, NOBODY, knows for sure.
If you think my “plain reading of the text” is a contrivance, then you must be depending on others to interpret it for you. In that case, you are assimilating their contrivances.
Good luck with that.
Just one more thing ...
Early in my Christian life, I came to a preacher with a passage of Scripture I could not understand.
The preacher looked at the passage, then asked me, “Are you going to live this passage today?”
I was quite taken aback and asked him, “If I don’t understand it, then how am I going to live it?”
He replied, “Then, live the Scriptures that you can understand. Perhaps if you get those right, the Lord will bless you with the understanding you will need for the less obvious ones.”
Best advice I ever got.